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by Olivia Sullivan

October 20, 2022

The live performances put on at the Holland Project are well known around Reno, Nevada, for being intimate and fun events—a fact of which I can absolutely agree with now, despite minor setbacks, such as a local wildfire filling the night air with a thick cloud of smoke. 

In the early morning of Wednesday, 14 Sept. the air pollution reached a hazardous level, even becoming a large enough concern that the university opted to cancel school for the day. The smoke did not dissipate much throughout the day, persisting in hazardous abundance as night loomed closer. Yet the smoke did not deter the small crowd of about 20 people at the Holland Project that night, their outward excitement making up for the lack of numbers. 

Honey Plant, a local Reno band, opened up the show. I found out their names from some helpful members of the crowd. The lead singer and guitarist is named Robby; the drummer is named Mathew; and the sax player is named Noah. I think that not knowing much about them was a good thing as I got to experience them for the first time–making their performance all the more intriguing. Right away their jazz-inspired sound filled the room and had members of the crowd dancing wildly. Their funky vibe was punctuated by the memorable solos of the sax player, the prerecorded intros to each song, and the enthusiastic lead singer. 

The second act of the night was an Australian band, called Golf Alpha Bravo. The name, according to the Holland Project website, is the adopted nickname of the guitarist/lead singer Gab Winterfield. Their more surf or dance rock sound flowed nicely off of the jazz-rock aesthetic of Honey Plant, and really set the mood for the progression of music we’d be getting for the rest of the night. The set from start to finish had a chill sort of groove to it, which constantly built upon itself in intensity and show of talent. 

Following a short set up and intermission came the last act of the night, an LA-based band called Dark Dazey. Going into this show, I decided to listen to a bit of the band’s music and find out more about them through their official website. Though this website does not include the names (or much background on the members), it does give a description of them as a whole: “A COLORFUL PSYCH-ROCK OUTFIT FROM LOS ANGELES WITH A FLARE FOR GENRE BENDING. FROM THRASH TO BOSSA NOVA TO COUNTRY TO JAZZ — NOTHING IS OFF THE TABLE FOR THE CONSISTENTLY SURPRISING, HYPER CURIOUS GROUP.” This description gave me a broad idea of who the band is, but I was still at a loss for who they were when performing or interacting with the crowd. Because of this limited knowledge, I went into the night very eager to get a feel for who they are and how they function as a collective act.

The band began their whirlwind performance a bit after 10 p.m., but had been wandering around the venue, selling their merch, and cheering along as the other acts performed well before that. It was through observing them off of the stage that warmed me to the band before an inkling of their music was even performed—their kind nature when interacting with the crowd and the collective support for the other artists left me feeling as though I had a better understanding of who this band was and found myself eager to hear them perform.

Quickly upon starting, it became clear to me that the five members on the stage had a deep chemistry with each other, playing off of each other’s energy and practically reading each other’s minds. The comfort, whether real or imagined, could be felt between them and thus allowed for this sort of relaxed energy to serve as a baseline for the energetic craze that grew during their performance. 

Once the band got on a roll and began playing music, it was like they couldn’t stop, utterly captured by the chords and lyrics being fed to the audience by their own hands. I remember thinking at one point that the songs just didn’t seem to stop coming, each one flowing into the next seamlessly. Of course, there were moments where the lead singer would pause and interact with the crowd, or the members of the band would whisper something to each other. But the way in which the songs carried into each other, despite pacing or influence of the song, was nothing less than hypnotic. 

It is telling of how well someone understands their craft when they are able to successfully take what they already know and experiment with that knowledge. This steady continuation of music despite the different influences of each song showed me that these musicians are obviously at that point. 

Their music style can be described as chaotic yet refined and so effortlessly cool. It is an eclectic and energetic mixture of metal, punk, jazz, and country–all being rooted in what could be described as psych rock. This style of rock favors a more improvisational style, invoking a bit of disjunction and whimsical attitudes. An aesthetic of which Dark Dazey managed to perfectly capture in their little-over-an-hour performance, including an encore. 

When the band had sung their last song and exited the stage, the buzz in the room didn’t dim with them. The high energy from the performance carried over into the aftermath. The small audience stuck around to continue to dance and chat with each other–their apparent awe of the last act left them seemingly shy about their excitement, and unwilling to leave without observing them some more. The bands stuck around too, talking with the fans and signing whatever merch was hesitantly handed to them. Eventually the crowd did start to thin, and the bands committed to packing up their instruments, heading out to the next show on their tour to do the whole thing over again.

The live performances put on at the Holland Project are well known around Reno, Nevada, for being intimate and fun events—a fact of which I can absolutely agree with now, despite minor setbacks, such as a local wildfire filling the night air with a thick cloud of smoke. 

In the early morning of Wednesday, 14 Sept. the air pollution reached a hazardous level, even becoming a large enough concern that the university opted to cancel school for the day. The smoke did not dissipate much throughout the day, persisting in hazardous abundance as night loomed closer. Yet the smoke did not deter the small crowd of about 20 people at the Holland Project that night, their outward excitement making up for the lack of numbers. 

Honey Plant, a local Reno band, opened up the show. I found out their names from some helpful members of the crowd. The lead singer and guitarist is named Robby; the drummer is named Mathew; and the sax player is named Noah. I think that not knowing much about them was a good thing as I got to experience them for the first time–making their performance all the more intriguing. Right away their jazz-inspired sound filled the room and had members of the crowd dancing wildly. Their funky vibe was punctuated by the memorable solos of the sax player, the prerecorded intros to each song, and the enthusiastic lead singer. 

The second act of the night was an Australian band, called Golf Alpha Bravo. The name, according to the Holland Project website, is the adopted nickname of the guitarist/lead singer Gab Winterfield. Their more surf or dance rock sound flowed nicely off of the jazz-rock aesthetic of Honey Plant, and really set the mood for the progression of music we’d be getting for the rest of the night. The set from start to finish had a chill sort of groove to it, which constantly built upon itself in intensity and show of talent. 

Following a short set up and intermission came the last act of the night, an LA-based band called Dark Dazey. Going into this show, I decided to listen to a bit of the band’s music and find out more about them through their official website. Though this website does not include the names (or much background on the members), it does give a description of them as a whole: “A COLORFUL PSYCH-ROCK OUTFIT FROM LOS ANGELES WITH A FLARE FOR GENRE BENDING. FROM THRASH TO BOSSA NOVA TO COUNTRY TO JAZZ — NOTHING IS OFF THE TABLE FOR THE CONSISTENTLY SURPRISING, HYPER CURIOUS GROUP.” This description gave me a broad idea of who the band is, but I was still at a loss for who they were when performing or interacting with the crowd. Because of this limited knowledge, I went into the night very eager to get a feel for who they are and how they function as a collective act.

The band began their whirlwind performance a bit after 10 p.m., but had been wandering around the venue, selling their merch, and cheering along as the other acts performed well before that. It was through observing them off of the stage that warmed me to the band before an inkling of their music was even performed—their kind nature when interacting with the crowd and the collective support for the other artists left me feeling as though I had a better understanding of who this band was and found myself eager to hear them perform.

Quickly upon starting, it became clear to me that the five members on the stage had a deep chemistry with each other, playing off of each other’s energy and practically reading each other’s minds. The comfort, whether real or imagined, could be felt between them and thus allowed for this sort of relaxed energy to serve as a baseline for the energetic craze that grew during their performance. 

Once the band got on a roll and began playing music, it was like they couldn’t stop, utterly captured by the chords and lyrics being fed to the audience by their own hands. I remember thinking at one point that the songs just didn’t seem to stop coming, each one flowing into the next seamlessly. Of course, there were moments where the lead singer would pause and interact with the crowd, or the members of the band would whisper something to each other. But the way in which the songs carried into each other, despite pacing or influence of the song, was nothing less than hypnotic. 

It is telling of how well someone understands their craft when they are able to successfully take what they already know and experiment with that knowledge. This steady continuation of music despite the different influences of each song showed me that these musicians are obviously at that point. 

Their music style can be described as chaotic yet refined and so effortlessly cool. It is an eclectic and energetic mixture of metal, punk, jazz, and country–all being rooted in what could be described as psych rock. This style of rock favors a more improvisational style, invoking a bit of disjunction and whimsical attitudes. An aesthetic of which Dark Dazey managed to perfectly capture in their little-over-an-hour performance, including an encore. 

When the band had sung their last song and exited the stage, the buzz in the room didn’t dim with them. The high energy from the performance carried over into the aftermath. The small audience stuck around to continue to dance and chat with each other–their apparent awe of the last act left them seemingly shy about their excitement, and unwilling to leave without observing them some more. The bands stuck around too, talking with the fans and signing whatever merch was hesitantly handed to them. Eventually the crowd did start to thin, and the bands committed to packing up their instruments, heading out to the next show on their tour to do the whole thing over again.

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